Caves and Karst of the Providence Mountains Study Area Mojave National Preserve

Building Upon Decades of Volunteer Contributions

National Cave and Karst Management SymposiumOctober 3 – 7, 2011Midway, Utah

Bern Szukalski - Esri, Cave Research FoundationTom Gilleland - MineGates, Inc.

Ted Weasma - Mojave National Preserve

National Cave and Karst Management SymposiumOctober 3 – 7, 2011Midway, Utah

Bern Szukalski - Esri, Cave Research FoundationTom Gilleland - MineGates, Inc.

Ted Weasma - Mojave National Preserve

The Big Story About Small Caves in the Mojave National Preserve

This is not the Mojave…

This is.

But it does rain and snow…

“When you’re stuck in 4-wheel drive, you’re really stuck.”

A land of extremes and diversityMojave Desert & Mojave Desert Ecosystem

• More than 80,000 square miles

• Includes portions of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah

• Elevation range: -280 to 14,505 feet

• Wilderness, ranching, resource harvesting, major cities

• National & State Parks, Preserves, scenic areas, landmarks

Mojave Desert Ecosystem

Mojave Desert

Mojave National Preserve

Mojave National Preserve (MOJA)

• Established 1994 (California Desert Protection Act)• 2,500 square miles, 1.6 million acres (695,200 wilderness)• Elevation range: 880 feet to 7,929 feet• Third largest NPS unit in continental U.S. (DEVA, YELL)

Nearby Cave Areas

Crystal / Kokoweef

Mitchell CavernsPisgah

Pisgah (BLM)

Mitchell Caverns1,478 TSL – 84 TVE

Cave of the Winding Stairs

Photos: William R. Halliday Collection

1,954 TSL – 311 TVE

Kokoweef Area

Photos: William R. Halliday Collection

367 TSL

Kokoweef Cave

Kokoweef Cave

MOJA Caves

• 197 caves, shelters, cave features• Most in Bird Spring fm. (Pennsylvanian – Permian)• Longest Cave = Warner’s Cave (335 feet)• Longest Lava Tube = Cima Cave (210 feet)• Most caves < 100 feet long

Q. So what is the definition of a cave in the Mojave?

A. Anything longer than the entrance is wide.

Or… You know one when you see one.

MOJA Boundary

Wilderness Areas

Carbonate Rock

Cave Distribution

Providence Mountains

Clark Mountains

Mines (AML)

Providence Mountains

Clark Mountains

Many caves are remote

Cars parked here!

Leads can be hard to reach

1960s

Caves are lost…

1960s

And with some determined searching…

Caves are found again…

2006

Formations are few…With a few exceptions…

Coral Buddha CaveTSL 80 feet

Sweet Surprise CaveTSL 103 feet

All cave maps are very large scale…

But it’s great fun.

Speleological History

• Early miners

• Jack Mitchell (1932)

• So Cal Grotto (1940s)

• Mojave Cave Survey (2001)

• Laura Chlor (GIP) (2004)

• CRF Expedition (2007)

• Generations of cavers

• Decades of ridgewalking & exploration

The ProjectSolicitation Number E8380100000

Contract Areas (PDF)

Bonanza King Canyon,Providence Mountains

Clark Mountains

Georeferenced Raster

Digitized Study Area

Digitized Study Area

Bonanza King CanyonProvidence Mountains

Clark MountainsStudy Areas

Clark Mountains Study Area

Bonanza King Canyon Study Area

The Modern & Historical Record

• Existing MOJA and personal databases

• Published & unpublished reports- Hardcastle (1975), Quick (1979)

• Newsletter articles

• Notes, email, phone calls…

Field Work – December 2010 to March 2011

Place Names

1. Crawllute Cave2. Open Sky Cave3. Middle Holes4. Calcite Cave5. Calcite Attic6. Tear Duct Shelter

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ArcGIS Online

ArcGISExplorer

GIS Workflow

Maps

Apps

Master DBExcel

GPS

ArcGISDesktop

The Report (243 pages)

Before and After…

Preserving The Old With The New

Photo Location Plates

Report Sections

Database

• 129 Caves & Features

• Longest = Virginia Mine Cave (131 feet)- Wishbone Cave (80 feet)

• Best bio discovery = Brackenridgia heroldi

Bonanaza King Canyon Database 2007

Bonanaza King Canyon Database 2011

In Summary – The Facts

• Project successfully completed on-time• Updated maps, reports, photos, inventory• Many new caves & shelters were documented• Lost caves and leads were found and documented• Several special status cave-adapted species were identified• Historical record was preserved

Acknowledgements

Project participants December 2010 – May 2011:

Dr. Rolf Aalbu, Doug Billings, Ed Block, Kathy Block, Bruce Davis, Ray Hardcastle, Marc Heins, Pat Helton, Jason Knight, Tom Gilleland, Dr. G.O. Graening, Andy Gup, Bruce Lynn, Dell Quick, James Rice, Bruce Rogers, Jim Rolf, Dr. Bill Shear, Anthony Smith, Bern Szukalski, Dr. Rickard Toomey, Ted Weasma, Larry Zimmer, Zane Zimmer.

Organizations:

Mojave National Preserve, Mojave Cave Survey (MCS), various chapters of the National Speleological Society (NSS), Western Region NSS, Cave Research Foundation (CRF), Minegates Inc.

And the volunteer efforts of generations of explorers and cavers that have invested their time, energy, and expertise to search for, map, and document caves and karst features throughout the Providence Mountains and Mojave National Preserve.